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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

paul alford, January 2, 2013 (view all comments by paul alford)
From the introduction to the very last page this was a fascinating read,it was written like a novel and at the same time you learn so much.It is obvious the author knows all the literature related to the subject,and has done extensive research on all the counties involved.Her writing makes you feel like you are there,and she strives to give as fair a story as possible.It is obvious how strongly she feels about this time period and how important era it was.

Joel Corcoran, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Joel Corcoran)
I stumbled across this book while browsing for histories of the Soviet Union, and I've found it to be one of the best history books I've ever read. Period. Applebaum provides a comprehensive overview of how the Iron Curtain arose in the midst of post-WWII Europe, without being dry or disjointed. She's a pleasure to read, she takes time to tie disparate thoughts together into some sort of sensible framework, and presents a very thoughtful and descriptive overview of the events that started the Cold War. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in the Soviet Era or modern European history in general.

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"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"According to this disturbing but fascinating history, the U.S.S.R.'s 1944 — 1950 subjugation of Eastern Europe was a brutal process. With other priorities in the forefront at Yalta and other wartime Allied summits, FDR gave Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe short shrift, according to Pulitzer Prize — winning author Applebaum (Gulag). In this account of the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe during and after WWII, Applebaum concentrates on events in Poland, Hungary, and what became East Germany, all of which unroll with depressing sameness. The Soviet army arrived in 1944 — 1945 with enormous destruction. There followed an orgy of arrests, trials, executions, and deportation of 'fascists,' a broad category that included noncommunist anti-Nazi resistance groups. Expulsions of ethnic Germans was also carried out on a mass scale. Faithful Marxists, the Soviet leaders knew that the masses would prefer communism, so they initially allowed political parties, churches, newspapers, and even elections, assuming the people would naturally vote for a proletarian state. When that didn't happen, democracy was quickly shut down. Applebaum delivers a gripping if unremittingly painful account of the period during which Communists, astonished at losing every election, steadily suppressed civil society, whereupon darkness descended for 40 years. With precision in her narration and penetrating analysis, Applebaum has written another masterful account of the brutality of Soviet rule. Illus., maps. Agent: Georges Borchardt, Georges Borchardt Inc. (Nov.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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